WOMEN who choose to walk out on their marriages cannot claim alimony and must support themselves, a Delhi court has said.

Rejecting a plea for maintenance from a Malviya Nagarresident who had
deserted her husband, the court said the woman must first prove that the
man had actively denied support and caused separation.

“ A wife
cannot walk out of the house at her own will and also claim maintenance
from the husband,” additional sessions judge Rajeev Bansal said.

“
Living separately is not sufficient ground for a wife to claim
maintenance from the husband. She must prove without fail that the
husband had refused to maintain her, despite having sufficient means to
do so.” The woman had filed an appeal against a magisterial court
decision which had dismissed her plea for maintenance.

In her
application to the sessions court, she alleged that her husband had
acted cruelly, leading to their separation, three years after the
marriage. Claiming that her estranged husband was making sufficient
money as an electrician, she demanded an appropriate amount of alimony.

The court, after examining the evidence and testimony at hand,
concluded that the woman had failed to prove the adverse circumstances
that had led to the estrangement.